The present invention relates to airborne panoramic camera systems and more particularly to a direct digital panoramic camera system and method in which an electro-optical digital sensor eliminates the need for the film and film transport apparatus normally associated with prior art airborne reconnaissance cameras.
Airborne camera reconnaissance or surveillance systems are nearly as old as the use of military and civilian aircraft. The prior art camera or photo reconnaissance systems generally involved camera photos taken from an aircraft flying over the area of interest, and the exposed film was returned to the ground after the flight where it was developed and processed before it could be delivered to the intelligence agencies or groups who could then determine whether the photographs contain the desired intelligence. A number of prior art reconnaissance systems, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,589, disclose an airborne reconnaissance system which includes an airborne film processing, scanning and transmission of the data to associated ground stations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,971 discloses an airborne photo reconnaissance system in which photo cells and color filter techniques are employed to identify specific targets of interest which have an unique optical or IR pattern. U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,453 discloses a combined film and electro-optical sensor for converting the exposed film to data suitable for relay over a radio link to a ground station where it may be demultiplexed and displayed on television type monitors.
The above-described and other similar prior art photo reconnaissance systems employ film as the light-sensing medium and therefore have the attendant drawbacks of a bulky film system and film transport apparatus, delays in developing the film and further generally include a more complex and substantially more costly lens that utilize a square focal plane system which must focus in two dimensions.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to prove an improved airborne panoramic camera system and method which is less costly and more efficient in operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a direct digital airborne panoramic camera system and method in which an electro-optical sensor eliminates the need for the film and film transport apparatus of the prior art airborne camera systems.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved airborne panoramic camera system and method in which panoramic errors are easily correctable in the digital image data.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved airborne panoramic camera system and method which employs a simplified, less costly optical system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a direct digital, massive data rate airborne panoramic camera and system capable of efficiently supporting mapping and other remote sensing applications by producing massive data bases which are efficiently organized and appropriate for use with geographic information systems.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a direct digital airborne panoramic camera system and method which eliminates the need for photographic film in airborne data collection process.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved airborne panoramic camera system and method having high image quality data particularly with respect to contrast and dynamic range.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved direct digital airborne panoramic camera system and method in which the images may be conveniently, accurately, and easily geo-referenced.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved direct digital airborne panoramic camera system and method in which the massive amounts of digitized image data are rapidly and efficiently available to the user in computer friendly formats.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the illustrative embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.